Bedlam And The Beast
by Mobiuslemniscus
Summary: Young Hank McCoy is graduating and facing challenges as he and his friend, Jesse Bedlam , realize the extent of their own abilities. More to come, and may be rated higher later, depending on how it all unfolds.
1. Chapter 1

It was 1975. Volkswagen had just come out with a new model, The Vietnam War had officially ended, and somewhere in New Mexico, Bill Gates was founding Microsoft. The media was overflowing as television became more mainstream. Magazines spilled over with the newest hot topics, and youth everywhere was searching for meaning and excitement.

Hank McCoy sat on the bleachers at the edge of his highschool football field. Tonight was the final track meet of the season, and it was Hank's last event in his highschool sports career. Graduation was only a couple weeks away. He stared off into the corn fields that stretched away from the town in every direction, the view only broken by a few scattered clusters of low trees and brush. Dundee certainly wasn't the most exciting town in the country, he thought, but it sure was beautiful. He sighed and tilted his head back, letting the sun warm his face while the soft Illinois breeze rippled through his auburn hair.

A shout from behind him interrupted his moment of tranquility. "Hey, Gorilla!" As he turned to see who had called out, he instinctively prepared himself mentally for what could easily be a fight. The nickname "Gorilla" was something that stung deep and it was regularly used by the other jocks in the school, who weren't afraid to rough with him if they were in a group.

He quickly made out the face of the person who was running towards him, waving. It was only Jesse Aaronson, a fellow classmate and friend of his. He let out a small breath of relief and waved back. Jesse approached the bleachers panting, his dark skin slightly flushed. "I've been looking all over for you!" He must have seen the remnants of unease left in Hank's expression, because he looked down at the ground and added, "I'm sorry for calling you Gorilla...I just wanted to get your attention, that's all."

Hank smiled down forgivingly at him as he descended from the bleachers. "Don't worry about it. What's up?"

Jesse needed help on his chemistry project. Go figure. Poor Jesse, he was a good kid, but he always managed to screw up hands-on science project. Maybe he just had bad luck, but something would always go wrong. It always seemed to do with electricity, too; an outlet wouldn't work, the lights would go out at a crucial moment, a battery would unexpectedly overcharge and melt...something bad was bound to happen. But no trouble. Hank felt honored that his friend was coming to him for academic assistance, though it was no real surprise. Everyone in the school knew that he was the star-student as well as the star-athlete. Even if they judged him for the most trivial differences, they knew better than to question or challenge his intellectual prowess.

The two of them walked back to the school and made their way to the science department. When Hank stepped through the doorway to Mr. Stone's lab extension, he couldn't help but chuckle to himself. Jesse's work station was a wreck. There was a whole cluster of materials strewn haphazardly across the blue tabletop; wires, a beaker laying on its side, test tubes, matches, batteries, a box of baking soda that had tipped over into a puddle of water. "God Jesse, you couldn't possibly have chosen a more _suitable_ lab project. Electrolysis of Water?! You're crazy...you'd think maybe electricity and you should take some time apart." Jesse forced a small laugh but he looked nervous and uncomfortable about what had just been pointed out. Hank immediately felt sorry and tried to direct the focus back onto the project.

"Hey, don't worry about it. I did this project last year in Advanced Chem- it's real simple." He walked over to the sink and refilled the spilled beaker. Back at the table, he tried to instruct Jesse through the steps.

"You're going to invert these test tubes into the water." Easy said, and easy done.

"Alright...next, you just need to complete the electrical circuit." He pointed to the wires and batteries laying in front of them. "Simple stuff, we did this in fifth grade, remember?" Jesse's fake smile failed completely that time as he reached shakily for the first battery. But as soon as he touched it, a number of sparks shot out of the end and hit a rag that was laying on the table. Jesse yelped and jumped back quickly, holding his hands away from him and staring at them as if they weren't his own. In his haste, he knocked over his stool and it clattered noisily when it hit the tile floor. The rag had immediately begun smoking and Hank did the first thing he could think of; he grabbed the beaker and dumped it all over the rag and the tabletop.

"Whoa..." He was looking at Jesse, who was looking helplessly back at him. "I didn't mean to-"

"What's going on in here?!" The two seniors both jumped about a foot in the air as Mr. Stone hurried into the room, looking both peeved and alarmed. "Jesse! What's the ruckus?! And-" He noticed Hank, still standing by the lab table. "What's _he_ doing in here? I told you this is an individual project, not to mention your _final_! Outside aid results in instant termination of your grade and as far as I can tell-" Jesse was practically shaking in his shoes and Hank knew he'd have to come up with something.

"Excuse me, Mr. Stone?" Hank was glad he had made a positive impact with his teachers. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience, I was just walking through the hallway to drop off my Physics textbook and I noticed Jesse was looking around in the cupboards and, well," He puffed out his chest proudly, "you know as well as I do that if anyone knows where the supplies are kept in here, besides you of course, it's me. He was looking for some batteries that would work...I checked the ones he had been trying to use and they were dead. But I accidentally knocked over the beaker, so I had to grab a rag to clean the mess up with..." He trailed off and held up the soaked rag.

Mr. Stone eyed him suspiciously for a moment, then laughed and patted him on the shoulder heartily. "Good boy, Hank. I was just messing around, I know you wouldn't help someone cheat." He looked up at the clock and then back to the two of them. "Jesse, I have a faculty meeting so I'm going to have to lock up and ask you to leave." He surveyed the mess. "You're going to need to clean up your...materials. Hank can help you out, right?" Hank nodded fervently. "I'm sorry about the batteries, I was sure they were fully charged. I'll give you one more day to work on this project...how about tomorrow during lunch?" Jesse swallowed. "Y-yes sir. Thank you very much, I'll get it done tomorrow for sure. Sorry for the trouble." Mr. Stone acknowledged him with a wave of his hand and turned to leave. "Just be sure to switch off the light and shut the door on the way out."


	2. Chapter 2

"Wow Hank, thanks for saving my ass back there. I was toast for sure." He and Jesse both walked the same route on the way home, toward the outskirts of town. Hank shrugged. "It was nothing...don't worry about it."

They walked silently together for a few minutes, but Hank felt he needed to delve a little deeper into the topic. "I didn't know Mr. Stone had told you so specifically that you couldn't get any help. I don't know if I feel comfortable going behind his back like that." He tried to make his expression convincingly reproachful. Jesse took the bait.

"Ah jeez, come on Hank. You know I wouldn't ask you to help me _cheat_. I know _how _to do the project...I just, I need someone else in there to _handle _the materials. I know the steps but I can't touch- well, you saw." There was fear in his eyes and he sounded as if he were confessing some horrible crime. "I make shit spark. I make lights flicker. I make batteries explode. I'm a freak, Hank. You know it."

"Hey," Hank grabbed Jesse's shoulder and faced him. "You're _not _a freak," he said firmly. "Don't say stuff like that." The smaller boy's dark eyes glittered back at him, with a mixture of gratitude and hopelessness that left Hank's heart aching.

_Vhissh_. "Hey queers!" A pebble whizzed between them and hit the road a couple yards ahead. Both boys turned sharply towards the source. It was Ryan Webster, the _second _best athlete in the school, and a couple of his cronies. Hank recognized them, but couldn't remember their names. They weren't in _his _kind of classes, that was for sure. They were just thick-brained meatheads who spent most of their time, even class time, in the gym lifting weights. Hank generally tried to avoid them.

"Going home to make out with the nigger, Hank?" He realized his hand was still on Jesse's shoulder, and let go roughly. "I don't know where you'd get that idea, Ryan. But I know it's your secret dream to screw another guy, so I guess it's understandable why you're keen on thinking about it." Ryan's face turned pink and Hank felt proud for whipping the insult around like that. But enough antagonizing, he thought to himself. "I don't want any trouble," he shouted, while trying to back up and put more space between them. "Leave us alone, and things won't have to get nasty."

Ryan spit in the dirt. "Too late, there's a nasty black greaseball right next to you and I think he's sliming you up, too, Hank." He motioned to his sidekicks. "Come on, I don't want to get my hands dirty." They started walking back in the opposite direction.

When it was clear that they had given up the idea of picking a fight, Hank looked back at Jesse. He had his eyes lowered to the ground and his ears had a rosy hue to them. Hank jammed his hands in his pockets and started walking again. "Don't worry about them." Jesse muttered something inaudible. Hank tried to cheer him up. "I've been thinking about this science problem...and I think I've got the answer." Jesse's face brightened and he looked at Hank expectantly.

"Well, my father works at the nuclear facility upstate, and he has some of his old uniform stuff in the basement. I think there might be some old industrial rubber gloves that you could use when you're handling electrical stuff...you know, the whole rubber versus electricity thing. If you wear gloves, maybe you won't have a problem touching batteries and wires." Jesse shrugged but looked hopeful. "It's worth a shot! I can't believe I never thought of that."

Hank _could _believe it, but he refrained from saying so and simply smiled to himself instead. In less than fifteen minutes they were walking up his driveway. He unlocked the back door into the garage and the two boys made their way down the rickety basement steps. As Hank had assumed, the gloves worked like a charm and when he handed Jesse a couple of batteries, the gloves served as a sufficient barrier and there wasn't so much as a leak of battery acid.

After walking Jesse through the steps of his assignment one more time just to make sure that he would be able to complete it within a lunch period, he looked at his watch. About one hour until the track meet. Jesse must have guessed this, because he immediately picked up his backpack from the dusty floor and made his way nervously towards the stairs. "I should probably get going, right?"

Hank held up his hand and shook his head. "No, give me one moment. I want to walk you to your house, just in case Ryan and his buddies come back and try to start any more trouble. If that's alright, anyway..."

Relief flashed across Jesse's face, but a look of concern quickly followed. "I don't want you to miss your last race. Don't worry about me...I'll walk fast." Hank chuckled and started walking up the stairs, beckoning for Jesse to follow him into the house. "I won't miss the race...just hold on one second. Here, catch-" He stopped in the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of soda from the fridge, tossing it towards Jesse. "I'll be right back," he called out behind him as he ran down the hallway towards his bedroom.

Jesse hardly had time to pop the cap off the bottle and take a swig of Tab before Hank was jogging back down the hall towards him, decked out in his track uniform and carrying a bottle of water. "I'll walk with you and then I'll jog back to the school to get a pre-race warm up in. No big deal." He had known Jesse wouldn't want to walk home alone, and he didn't live too far away anyway, so Hank wasn't worried about whether or not he would have time to get back to the school. He was much more concerned about the safety of his friend - alot of the kids in this town were racist bigots and he didn't want to see anything bad happen this close to graduation.

It was 5:30 when they got to Jesse's house. Jesse opened the front door and turned around to face Hank. "Thanks again, for everything." He held up the gloves and smiled. "These things sure are goofy looking...but passing Chemistry is definitely worth it. Good luck tonight. I'll see you tomorrow in school." With that he gave a small wave and disappeared into his house, the screen door clicking into place behind him. Hank turned around, took a huge gulp of water, and then started back off towards the school at a steady paced jog. Two miles in thirty minutes - no sweat. He could practically walk and still get there in time.


	3. Chapter 3

The next day, Hank sat at the lunch table with the rest of the track team. He'd tried to avoid lunch completely so he could take a quick glance into Mr. Stone's classroom, but unfortunately, they had caught him at his locker and dragged him along to the cafeteria. He'd been getting nothing but praise all day for his outstanding mile run, but he wished he knew how Jesse was doing right about now.

"-see that guy try to trip you up last night?" Someone was speaking to him. Hank looked up. "What?"

Carter Bradley, who was sitting across the table from him, raised an eyebrow. "Man, you're out of it today. You drink enough water after the race?" Everyone at the table chuckled a little. _'Sports humor'_, Hank thought to himself. "I was saying, one of the other guys last night tried to trip you. But your reflexes were wicked, you jumped right out of the way and kept on going, maybe even faster than you were before."

Hank shrugged and forced a smile. "I don't remember...it was probably just luck that I got out of the way. I don't have time to focus on much else when I'm running." He looked up at the clock. It was almost the end of the lunch period. "Hey, I'll catch you guys later." He jabbed his thumb vaguely in the direction of the bathrooms so he didn't look like he was completely ditching them.

He'd hardly taken more than five steps down the hallway before he heard someone call his name. "Hank! Wait up!" He turned slowly, hoping this person would be easy to shake off. Instead, he was surprised to see Ryan jogging down towards him. He was even more surprised to see that Ryan was alone, without any of his thuggish bodyguards nearby. Hank took a step backwards and tensed up. He really didn't want any trouble right now, or ever for that matter.

Ryan threw his hands up into the air in a peaceful gesture. "Whoa, don't worry man. I just wanted to congratulate you for your win last night. Good race." Hank eyed him suspiciously and did not know what exactly he was supposed to say. "Thanks?" He wasn't sure if Ryan was being serious or not. But before either of them could say anything else, a high-pitched screeching ring began emitting from the fire alarms. Both boys jumped and then looked at each other, startled. "Guess we should go with them," Ryan shouted over the ear-splitting noise, pointing to the students who were filing out of the cafeteria towards the exit.

As he followed the crowd, Hank suddenly thought of Jesse and dread filled his stomach. _'No, no it couldn't be,' _he thought to himself as he avoided having his toes stepped on. _'Just a drill...or maybe something in home ec. caught on fire.' _Though it seemed a bit late in the year to be having a fire drill. Once outside, he began looking at the faces of those around him. All of them looked as baffled as him, though much less worried.

"Mrs. Lewis!" Hank shouted over the heads of his classmates, trying to catch the attention of the principal's secretary. If anyone knew what was going on, it would be her. She turned and he pushed his way through the crowd to where she was standing. "Hank, I'm rather busy, could you-" He acknowledged her concerns with a quick, understanding nod. "I'm sorry, I just wanted to know what was going on." She shrugged, looking around at the other students on the lawn. "Apparently there's a fire in the science wing, I don't know any more- HANK! You can't go back into the school!" She tried to grab him as he tore away through the crowd towards the building, but he was too quick and she stood there helplessly as he disappeared through the cafeteria doors.

Hank made his way quickly through the hallways, picking up the smell of smoke in the air this time. He could already hear the faint sound of sirens, though as he skidded around the final turn and looked down the hall at Mr. Stone's room, it was evident that the damage wasn't too serious. There was smoke coming from inside the classroom and the lights seemed to have failed, but both Jesse and Mr. Stone were standing in the hallway and neither looked hurt.

Before Hank could take another step however, Mr. Pike, the principal, came huffing and puffing down the hall. "What happened?!" He shouted as he ran by Hank, not even seeming to notice him. "This _delinquent_ set my lab table on fire, that's what happened!" Mr. Stone's face was beet red and the cuff of his coat was slightly charred as he gestured angrily at the boy beside him. Jesse opened his mouth to defend himself, but Mr. Stone cut him off. "Shut up! You're in enough trouble as it is, young man."

Perhaps foolishly, Hank stepped forward and nervously cleared his throat. "I, I don't think Jesse would intentionally do something like that, sir." The two men looked at him. "Why aren't you outside with your classmates?" The principal squinted at him suspiciously, and then, pointing just over Hank's right shoulder he asked, "And did _he_ come with you?"

Hank looked over and saw Ryan leaning against the wall. Ryan answered the question before he could say anything. "No, sir. I came on my own, I thought you might want to hear me out. You see, I didn't want to say anything earlier, but I saw Jesse slip something in his jacket at his locker just before lunch. It looked very suspicious, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt and didn't turn him in, but now-"

"You fucking liar!" Hank roared and took a step towards Ryan. But the two men had already chosen to believe everything that had been said and were looking at Jesse with disgust. "No, I swear I didn't do anything!" His wide eyes searched Hank's face. "You know I didn't do anything! Tell them!"

Hank's confidence faultered as he looked around at the others. He didn't know what else he could possibly say. He didn't even know the details of the situation. He knew Jesse hadn't done anything, but how could he fabricate a defense if he didn't even know the circumstance? Just then, a police officer pushed Hank aside. "What's the situation?"

The principal pointed at Jesse, who stood frozen to the spot. "This young man set fire to this classroom. He hid materials in his jacket according to a witness and I'm afraid he may still be dangerous." Frustruated, Jesse protested the accusation. "No, I swear that's not what happened! Hank...I tripped and my elbow hit the equiptment and-" he motioned an explosion before the police officer grabbed his arms.

Suddenly everything seemed to slow down. The officer was pulling out a pair of handcufs...they were going to arrest Jesse? Really? They hadn't even given him time to say his side of the situation. Hank's vision went red. A sudden uncontrollable surge of anger pounded through every nerve and muscle in his body. With a deafening roar, Hank charged towards the police officer and the two of them fell to the floor. The force of his impact knocked the officer unconscious. Everyone was too stunned to react; Ryan had begun backing off down the hallway, and the principal and Mr. Stone stared at Hank in utter horror.

Jesse, who had until this point had not moved from the spot he had stood, now took initiative and pulled Hank by his shirt into the science lab and slammed the door shut behind them. The room really was a mess. The acrid smell of melted plastic overwhelmed his sense of smell. Hank pressed his weight up against the thick door, feeling the fists beating against if from the other side.

Jesse looked at him with wide eyes. "You should see your face." Hank reached up and gasped slightly as his fingers brushed what felt like fur. "Your eyes, too. They're yellow." Jesse groaned and looked away. "We're dead. If things weren't bad then, they are NOW!" He looked at Hank almost accusingly this time. "Why'd you attack that guy?! You're crazy!"

Hank shook his head. His mind was beginning to return to a state of reasonability. "I don't know what happened. Maybe I _am _crazy. But it still wasn't fair. They were going to take you away because...because of nothing!" There was a tremendous boom and the door rattled. "We're in deep. I'm sorry." Hank wished he had a mirror so he could look at himself. Suddenly the force on the other side of the door was gone and it was quiet in the hallway. They had a second to look at each other apprehensively before the windows on the other side of the room shattered. A dart hit Hank in the neck and though he ripped it out, he could feel himself fading. The sound of a helicopter filled his ears as everything went dark and he fell crashing to the floor with the chopper blades pounding away inside his mind.


End file.
